Gambling tax 'final nail in the coffin' for seaside towns

ARCADE owners in ailing seaside towns across Britain have warned that a fresh tax raid would be “the final nail in the coffin” for their hard-hit family-run businesses.

- By Rebecca Robinson

They fear Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s mooted gambling tax, one of the options being looked at to fill a £50billion black hole in the nation’s finances, would hit them hard after a huge slump in holidaymakers this summer.

Staycations were down by almost 40% from 42.3 million in 2022 to 25.5 million this year, according to campaign group Back British Holidays.

The Institute for Public Policy Research has proposed increasing Machine Games Duty, which is applied to slots and gaming machines, from 20% to 50%, to put an extra £880million in the Treasury’s coffers.

Jeremy Godden, 35, owns Boulevard Amusements in Ramsgate, Kent - the only surviving arcade in a town with high retail vacancy rates - and has struggled to stay afloat with rising energy bills and employer National Insurance contributions.

"We have been facing a cost-of-doing-business crisis," he said. "The MGD increase would be the final nail in the coffin basically, a tax rise on the seaside.

"We'd have to layoff staff, we wouldn’t invest back into the business and we wouldn’t open as many hours."

As 24% of shops on Ramsgate’s high street currently lie empty, Jeremy worries his business could be next to fold if Ms Reeves adopts the IPPR’s advice.